1970 Morris Oxford - 20/9/24 -

It was such an awesome paintjob style to begin with, I'm sure you will come up with something that will do it and yourself justice.
But if it all falls through, I personally will forgive you for reverting back to the flames over two-tone.

Love this build, all the little period custom style touches, yet still so subtle. Id like to see it remain as it was, but with posh black flames. Whatever you decide I'm sure will look awesome.

Lime green stripes with fuscia pink circles on a deep red Base? With bright orange pinstripes.

Thanks, err, for all the suggestions!

I have struggled a bit it feels over the last month or so. Probably just winter lack of motorvation coupled with having to spend some time welding up a bit of the Hillman for its MOT. The job that has been a bit of sticking point has been finishing the front valance. This has involved a lot of trial fitting, bolting on, taking off etc of the front bumper irons and bumper to make sure that the holes in the valance are in the right place (they weren't to begin with) and so that the bumper is centred to the car with a roughly even gap each side where it comes close to the wing. These are details I'd have not bothered with before but kinda seem worth sorting out this time around. Anyhow, eventually I got to here:



From the inside you can see the various repaires that have been needed.



Both ends to match the wings, a hole in the middle filled and then alterations to the old drivers side bumper iron holes.

The end result is reasonably pleasing.



In a couple of photos from a month or so back some bits of cardboard are visible taped to the fronts of the wings. I did quite a bit of thinking (with input from other dungeoneers) and have finally commited to a new peak design in the metal.

Tacked in place:



Fully welded and ground back.



A bit of paint this side and the other side also all welded.  The intention was to echo the peaks on the back wings while not being too lairy or batmobile-esque.



Need a little more clearancing for the headlight bezels but another job ticked off the list.

Those peaks are nice, a subtle extension of the wing top crease and almost make it look like the headlight bezels are hung from the point rather than being stuck to the front of the wing. Valance is lovely too, it'll be a shame to hide that behind a bumper!

Count me in as another fan of the peaks, different but subtly so, looking good

Every little touch to this car has been nailed.

Or welded...

I like.

Over three months since the last update. Here is the news. Mostly involves bits and pieces on the front panels.

The NOS pass side wing, for some reason didn't have enough metal between the headlioght and the curve of the grill so I added a bit to fill the gap.
Also welded on the bracket that the grill screws to.



P clips added to retain the wiring to the inner wing area.



Middle grille bracket repaired at the bottom where it had got bent and broken by rust.



The NOS wing was obviously all rust free but had picked up a couple of dents in 50 years of storage. I had a go at them myself but knew I'd struggle and once one area started 'popping' I knew I was out of my depth. So I called up my friend Lance and paid him a visit. I knew exactly what was needed (hot spotting) but lack Oxy gear and the several decades of experience. One of his sons wielded the torch to heat up a 1" or so spot to cherry red before Lance performed magic with a mallet and a dolly.



I feel rather privileged to have had some of his craftsmanship on my car - not the usual 'Farina' designed car to receive it.





Back to the grill, and when I originally removed the sidelight/indicators from the grille I extended the bars by chopping up a spare bar and using strips of aluminum behind with double sided tape. It kind of worked but I now wanted to do better.



So with some stainless wire in the welder I tacked the extensions into place. Much stronger and less likely to droop.



The bumper had been bugging me for months and to be honest I got quite tired of taking it and the bumper irons on and off, tweaking, bending etc to try and get it into the right place. Eventually I was persuaded (thanks Paul!) to start all over, bring it up and closer to the body by modifying the already modified bumper irons. Very pleased with the result in the end.



Playing around with that so much also lead to a new and better way of sorting out the front indicators. Small brackets to mount those have the second function of supporting the bar between grille and bumper



Through all of this time the doors have been off so that I could repeatedly take the front wings on and off for trial fitting etc. I fitted the bonnet onto hinges for the first time in years to enable me to do some final tweaking and finishing to a couple of places and then it was time to strip/paint inside the wings and make sure the A pillars and awkward areas were well coated in stuff.



I sprayed some of the looser wax stuff designed for inside box sections etc into the back edge of the wings and left them to stand upright for a few days before covering other trickier places to reach with them on with Dynax wax.



And so, bringing this up to this past weekend, the wings are now on and bolted in place down the A pillar. I don't want to ever take them off again. I've put the doors back on too so it's looking like a car again which is most satisfying.



I'll get the front valance welded into place in the next week or so and that'll be the front sheet metal pretty much done. I created a 'to do' list about six months ago to help me get through this stage now that the car is getting a bit nearer completion. It is quite nice to be ticking more things off that list than I am adding.